Celanese International Corporation

Andrew Shuff

R Jay Warner

Heiko Weiner

Mark O Scates

Zhenhua Zhou

Radmila Wollrab

Tianshu Pan

Emily Duff

Victor J Johnston

Ronald David Shaver

David E Lee

G Paull Torrence

James H Zink

Brian W Hokkanen

Claudio Ribeiro

Disclosed herein are processes for alcohol production by reducing ethyl acetate produced by hydrogenating acetic acid in the presence of a suitable catalyst. The product of the acetic acid hydrogenation is fed directly to a decanter to separate the hydrogenation product into an aqueous phase comprising water and ethanol and an organic phase comprising ethyl acetate. The organic phase is reduced with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a crude reaction mixture comprising the alcohol, in particular ethanol, which may be separated from the crude reaction mixture. Thus, ethanol may be produced from acetic acid through an ethyl acetate intermediate without an esterification step. This may reduce the recycle of ethanol in the hydrogenolysis process and improve ethanol productivity.

Phasing reactor product from hydrogenating acetic acid into ethyl acetate feed to produce ethanol

In one embodiment, the invention is to a process for producing multi-carbon alcohols, including butanol and/or hexanol. The process comprises the step of reacting ethanol in a reactor to form a crude product comprising butanol, ethanol, and water. The process further comprises the step of separating at least a portion of the crude product in a first distillation zone to form a first distillate comprising ethanol and a first residue comprising butanol, and water. The process further comprises the step of separating at least a portion of the first residue in a second distillation zone to form a second distillate and a second residue comprising butanol.

Processes for producing multi-carbon alcohols

Recovery of ethanol from a crude product comprising ethyl acetate obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. The crude product is separated to form an organic stream that may be subjected to hydrogenolysis to form ethanol. The organic phase may comprise ethyl acetate is reacted via hydrogenolysis form ethanol that may be directly or indirectly fed to the separation zone or the hydrogenation reactor.

Combined column for separating products of different hydrogenation reactors

The present invention relates to a process for producing ethanol by methyl acetate hydrogenolysis. The process comprises the step of reacting carbon monoxide and methanol in a reaction medium to form a reaction solution that comprises acetic acid and from 0.5 to 25 wt. % methyl acetate. The process further comprises the step of esterifying the acetic acid and feeding the methyl acetate to a distillation column to remove alkyl halides. The process further comprises the steps of reacting the methyl acetate stream that does not contain alkyl halides and hydrogen in the presence of a second catalyst to form an alcohol product that comprises ethanol and/or methanol.

Process for producing ethanol from methyl acetate

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League City, TX, United States of America

Andrew Shuff